Question Strange reboot required when turning on PC

[MariusBoss98]

I had this PC for a while, but haven't used it in 3 years. My GPU was faulty and I wasn't getting any video output. However, i recently got a new GPU and everything is working (almost) fine.
I have this weird issue where after shutting down the PC, the next time I want to turn it on I need to first hard reboot it. Basically, the first time I turn it on, I don't get any video output and the PC doesn't boot into windows. However, once I reboot it, I get video output and everything works normally. This issue doesn't happen when the computer is in sleep mode, it only happens when i shut down the PC.
Do you guys have any idea what might be going wrong here?

 

[Colif]

welcome to Tom's

try turning off fast startup and see if it changes anything - https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4189-turn-off-fast-startup-windows-10-a.html

my guess is its an old driver that doesn't like the new power modes of win 10, though strange it starts now.

what are specs of the pc?

 

[MariusBoss98]

Thanks for your reply. I don't have that option on my windows. I also have fast startup mode disabled in UEFI.

Here's my setup
i5-4670k
AsRock Z87 Extreme4
AMD Rx 580
16gb ram

 

[Colif]

what version of windows are you on? I just assume everyone is on win 10 these days.

 

[MariusBoss98]

Yeah, I'm on win 10 on this PC.

I noticed something more interesting though that has to do with the outlet. So my PC is plugged into a power strip that can be turned on/off via a button. From what I observed, the issue in cause happens only when I turn the strip off. If I keep it on all the time, PC boots the first time. However, I also have a Linux laptop connected to the strip, and the issue doesn't happen with it even when I turn the strip off.

This made me think that completely cutting power from my PC (even for a very short period of time), might make it somehow reset (maybe the CMOS battery?). Is this something that can happen?

 

[Colif]

You don't have fast startup on win 10? its not in the power options menu? It should be. Or have you disabled hibernate?
can you show me the options that appear here?
settings/system/power & sleep
under related settings, click Additional power options
click choose what the power button does
click change settings that are currently unavailable
Fast start-up should be one of the options you can choose under here.

because your behavioural problems sound like fast start up is on.

I have this weird issue where after shutting down the PC, the next time I want to turn it on I need to first hard reboot it. Basically, the first time I turn it on, I don't get any video output and the PC doesn't boot into windows. However, once I reboot it, I get video output and everything works normally.

this is text book fast startup fail.

From what I observed, the issue in cause happens only when I turn the strip off. If I keep it on all the time, PC boots the first time.

this sort of is too.

how fast start-up works is this. Windows is never off when you shut it down, By default win 10 uses a hibernate system instead of turning off at shutdown. It saves a copy of open drivers + certain windows files into either ram or into hiberfil.sys, and puts PC to sleep. When you restart it is actually just waking up, half its drivers already loaded and only a few things need to be started from scratch.

Now PC booting fine when you haven't unplugged it, is how its meant to work. Clearly you unplugging it after is disturbing it. Its meant to just start from scratch so its odd it needs a restart. it shouldn't remember anything at this point.

Turning fast start-up off will turn the PC off at shutdown. If you have an ssd you don't need fast startup anyway, its mostly to speed up hdd

 

[MariusBoss98]

Thanks for explaining how it works. It makes sense.

However, I have the OS on an SSD and the fast startup option is disabled in UEFI.
Here's a screenshot of the Windows power plan.

 

[Colif]

Did you ever disable Hibernate via powershell?

right click start
choose powershell (admin)
type powercfg /hibernate on

this should add them as options in the above menu but if you had hibernate turned off, my idea can't work. If you add them and fast startup is ticked, I would also be confused. If fast startup is not on, there shouldn't be any difference between a cold boot and a restart. Both turn PC off.

As Fast Startup uses an adapted hibernate method and it can't be on without hibernate.

I don't think its CMOS as it normally resets the boot order, not messes with how windows starts. it might be but only as pc wasn't used for a few years. Its just doesn't feel like its cmos.

have you run windows update since you hadn't used PC for 3 years?

 

[MariusBoss98]

I just installed the OS last week, but before that, the PC hadn't been used for around 2 years or so and had Win8 before.

Also, I tried running that shell command and got the following error:

Hibernation failed with the following error: The request is not supported.

The following items are preventing hibernation on this system.
An internal system component has disabled hibernation.
Guarded Host

Is it possible my mobo isn't supporting the hibernate option in Win10? It's 8 years old after all.
Also, please note that I do not really mind not having a hibernate. This was more of a curiosity as to why the issue happens.

 

[Colif]

i5-4670k
AsRock Z87 Extreme4
AMD Rx 580
16gb ram

my last pc was a 4690K with a Z97 board, the age difference isn't that great and it allowed fast startup to work

Did you clean install win 10 or upgrade from 8? Did you use a new installer?

from what I can gather, Guarded host has something to do with virtual memory.

i found this possible answer -

open regedit - back it up before changing anything - https://neosmart.net/wiki/backup-restore-registry/
I found in registry the follow key:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Power\ForceHibernateDisabled

And found "GuardedHost" with value 1, and set to 0, and Hibernation came back.

https://social.technet.microsoft.co...out-disable-guarded-host?forum=win10itprovirt

 

[MariusBoss98]

OK, so I did that, restart, still didn't show up. Regardless, I'm curious at this point why the issue was happening in the first place since I didn't have hibernate more on.

 

[Karadjgne]

Replace the cmos battery. After 3 years no use, it'll be about dead so isn't saving any cmos settings. You have to hardboot as a result and force bios to go find everything.

Don't use a pc on a cheap powerstrip, they do absolutely nothing to protect the pc. A pc generally only uses 3-4Amps at best and those strips don't trip unless they see a load in excess of 15Amps± and that load has to super-heat a tab of metal which bends and breaks the connection. Does absolutely nothing for voltage spikes. A powerstrip is nothing more than the wires soldered to 3 pieces of metal, held in place by bits of plastic. If they wear (which they do with use) you get a bad connection, which creates sparks like a sparkplug and causes spikes that hit the pc. It's basically bad news from any direction.

If you have a good, expensive power strip, it'll have a guarantee on joule ratings and a warranty on any electronic equipment plugged into it. They usually cost upwards of $50. If it's not one of those kind, the only guarantee you have is that you are plugged into a time-bomb with fake protections and a false sense of security.